How Shall We Then Live?

The Bible isn't filled with formulas for exact lifestyles and professions and hobbies that make up the Christian life, rather it's filled with principles that can be applied to any persons life wether they are in the bush in Africa or on the streets of America or in a castle in England, whether they are rich or poor, male or female, talented or clumsy, brilliant or simple. And God has a unique expression of who He is to reveal through all types of people!

I am asking the wrong question when I ask "what does it look like to live as a faithful Christian according to the Bible?" If I'm in any way seeking a formula and not merely a principle. God is diverse and thus he made people diverse, and life is a messy journey that will never pan out a certain way based on some formula. If you want a formula, here you go:

1. One must be born again through Christ to even see the Kingdom.
2. One must conform ones life in every way to the principles of the kingdom of God over time by the Holy Spirit Always aligned with the Word of God.
3. Ask the question in every season, "God, who do you want to be for me right now in light of all that I'm currently going through?"
4. Then ask, "What passions and desires have you instilled in my heart that were placed in me to reveal Christ to the world in a unique way and draw the specific people you have ordained for me to reach?"
5. One must also ask the question, "God, what does obedience to you look like for me right now."
6. And pray "Lord of the Harvest, send forth laborers into the harvest; and here am I, send me."
7. And pray each day "Lord help me to recognize your hand throughout my day to see the people you have put in my path and understand how to minister to them in the moment."

Miscellaneous Thoughts:

Don't hide under a basket, let your list shine before men that they may see your good deeds and glorify your father in heaven.

Faithfully invest what god has apportioned to you and He will reward you when he returns.

We are Gods workmanship, created in Christ for good works that God prepared before hand that we should walk in them.

God calls us to be fishers or men and gives us creative expression unique to who we are as individuals that serve as lewers that draw the people to you that God desires to reach and love through you. If we start seeing all of business and art and life in this way, and are open to minister according to the Holy Spirit whenever He speaks, even if its prophecy and prayer for a person at your booth even when others are around etc., then God will ensure that finances and clothes and food and all other things are provided.

I am the David Lewin expression of Jesus Christ. If I don't express what God has put inside of me, a part of the revelation of God to this earth will be missing. On the other hand, if I don't allow The Lord to discipline and conform me to the likeness of Christ daily, my expression will end up being more of David Lewin than of Christ.

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Gods hidden power leads to rest

Lately I've been struggling with continuing on that place of rest in Christ and while maintaining the busy lifestyle of working and keeping up an apartment and family. I even gave a little talk about it at my Tuesday night small group with Zak Ferry a couple of weeks ago where I described what my issues were but didn't necessarily know where to go from there practically.

But last night the Lord did something beautiful for me. He gave me a dream

Would you rather have the SPIRIT or TRUTH? Take your pick.

I grew up with the Scriptures being taught void of power. Thus the spirit that was weaved together with the Word of God was a spirit of man. Though I was provided a strong foundation of morality and scripture study, it utlimately offered a lifetime of hypocracy, and arrogence, and would be void of true relationship with God making the gospel only attainable by those who were intellectually inclined and could memorize complex creeds word for word.

Eventually I was ready for religion that was more than rules and documents and turned to a more "spiritual" approach which conveniently set aside reason and flesh to "transcend" to a place where troubles would simply fade away if they weren't blasted out of the way before me. Though this created a large degree of freedom, experience and passion, it ultimately offered a lifetime of instability, and competition, and would be void of the character and simplicity of Christ making the gospel far out of the reach of the broken, unspiritual people that Christ died for.
But praise be to God, that He is returning me to a healthy faith in both the unchanging truth of the scriptures and the untamable power of the Spirit which can never be seporated, both being given to save the lost, unify the body, and make ready the way of the Lord on this eath.

 

Something is happening inside of me

Where to start. I have so much stirring within me. I feel healing and faith rising up in my body and spirit! Tonight God has lifted a heavy burden from me, and I feel alive. I'll provide a little background to help readers understand how profound of a work is taking place within me.

 

I went to school at the University of Colorado at Boulder and truly poured myself out there and "wasted" countless hours in prayer and worship and evangelism. I got to partake in God's heart for Boulder and ran with it. I communed with Him in the night hours as I prayed for the city along with many faithful brothers and sisters who believed that God would pour out His revelation of His glory to that city and bring salvation and redemption to that land. But though a long series of events, my heart was crushed and broken and imbittered and I left that city wiping the dust from my feet and in many ways leaving behind much of what I experienced in the Lord in that place and thus suffered GREAT loss. It has been three or four years that my heart has been in that state. It's like when you eat too much of something and get sick and throw it up; after that point it just makes you sick to even think about it. But tonight, as I thought about the possibility of moving a little north to be closer to the church where I lead worship in Longmont, I thought, "that would be cool because I'd be closer to Bouler, in fact, I could even live there if I wanted. That's exciting because I love Boulder. Part of my heart is there." People! Do you realize how profound that is?! My heart is being healed by the Lord of layers and layers of events that destroyed me from the inside out, and I'm remembering that place in Him where I'm alive and radical for the Lord and don't even have to think about it. Even if I don't move in or near Boulder or focus on ministry there in the future, I can now move forward into what the Lord has for me now without fear and pain! I can pursue the KIng of glory and His kingdom on this earth that is full of power and life from the dead, healing for the regular, lost, broken people of this world that do not yet know the life there is in Christ. Oh, glory to Jesus!

 

Part of what released this healing is a radical shift in my mindset prior to this thought about Boulder. I have always struggled with trying to determine what THE right way to live as a Christian is. I always ask God to reveal it to me so I can truly pour myself into whatever that looks like so I can really be successful in this life for Him. I have pursued many many avenues and variations of what I thought a successful Chrisian was. Every church, every movement, every person sees and does things very differently and emphasises different facets of who God is and as a person joins different groups, it's easy for the definition of success to change. But in the end, I'm coming to see and remember that it's knowing God, intimate knowledge of God and time with Him that can never be taken away. When I know the presence of the Holy Spirit and intimately know that God is near and His presence rich and tangible, I know beyond a shaddow of a doubt that I am achieving the very core of success for mankind which is to dwell with God and partake of the tree of life. Let's pursue our great God and fill our lamps with oil and thus be ready for Him when He comes.

 

Priase the Lamb,

 

David

My God Complex

A God complex - I supposed that's what it's called. As if I have to comprehend all the mysteries of the universe by the time I'm 25. I'm like a swimmer trying to swim across the ocean - after a couple day with no sight of land ahead, I am forced to turn back. So I swim back towards the shores possibility and wonder what I saw out at sea anyway. Who says that I even have the right to ask the questions for which I demand answers? Like the 5th graders I teach everyday, maybe I should finally embrace the fact that my teacher knows what's best for me at each stage, and that I don't have to keep fighting so hard. Maybe it's time to rest, to put my weapons down and meet Him in my open wounds. After all, He is God, I am dust. 

 

 

 

Perfected in Love: a bit of my story and some ramblings

I grew up in a church that taught that in order to be pleasing to God, each person should "leave their gifts and the door and not expect to never be used in them again but rather to find out what the church currently needs and joyful do those things instead." They taught that it was pure self-promotion to take action and initiate anything that wasn't originated and sanctioned by the church staff. I was also told that I coudn't lead worship for the youth group unless I stepped up my committment to the church and stopped the band that I had started of my friends from the church who enjoyed playing worship music together at various youth groups. Needless to say, this church inprisoned the gifts I was given by God for His kingdom and only allowed me to build the kingdom of their church.

I eventually broke free of this enslavedment, after about 8 years, thoroughly brainwashed that my gifts were to be hidden and never used by my own initiation. It was then on to the more charismatic side of the church. Through getting teaching on the prophetic, it was amazing to find out that God really cares about me personally and knows specifics about my life and about the lives of others around me. But eventaully I eneded up in slavary again, this time not to a group of men but to the mindset that the only activities with eternal value had to be initiated and maintained by clear, tangible direction from God; if He didn't clearly speak and confirm it, it was pure flesh initiating it. If one didn't hear otherwise, I believed the only position be to be was in a position of waiting and worship and prayer before God until He filled us with power and sent us out on a specific life's calling. If I ventured outside of this, I believed that I would be risking stepping out in my own flesh without God's blessing and found to be building my own kingdom. But eventually I grew tired of being stuck in meetings with other believers in a perpetual state of waiting but never taking action for the broken around us, and never taking action with the gifts I've been given outside of a small circle of people who all already know God. What God desires is that we not only spend time in His presence and worship and fellowship together, but that we also take serious action in the world so that His Kingdom can be spread. 

The scriptures say: "unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain" (Psalm 127:1 ESV). Noice, it does not say, "all laborers must stop building the house and watching over the city because it's really God who is building and watching." Rather, it stating the importance of faith and acknowledgement of God in every action, and that in one's own strength, all is vein. In fact, each of us is responsible to invest all that God has apportioned to us in order to hear those words, "well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master" (Matthew 25:21 ESV).

Beloved, God is calling his people to be construction workers and to begin to build the house of His eternal kingdom on the earth through whatever tools He has apportioned to each one. You do not need permission to use your gifts to either serve people around you or to provide for yourself and your family financially. Just remember, you can build all you want, but unless the Lord is the one building, it will be in vein. But just stay in touch with Him as you build, and make sure He's still in it, and you'll be just fine. God is searching for those who will take action with the gifts that He has given them and meet the broken in this world with the hope and love that are in Christ Jesus. He will go before us; He will make a way for us; He will empower us; He will clean up our messes and refine us; He will comfort and encourage us in His presence for He knows first hand that the battle is fierce. 

A law of physics states that for every action there is an equal and oppisite reaciton. In the same way, every encounter that the believer has with the living God must have an equal and opposite reaction outwards towards the broken. Intimacy should create action. Also, every action for the poor should drive us towards intimacy with Jesus. If one of these two pieces is missing, we will be missing the true heart of God; and He is whole reason for all that we do. The fact that many believers are still afraid of doing the wrong things shows that many have not yet been perfected in love; for perfect love casts out all fear, and fear has to do with torment. There is no more torment for those who are in Christ Jesus! This fact should set us free to take the risk of being wrong if only we can be with Him where He is; and I'm pretty sure we'll often find Him amongst the poor and the needy. 

 

An undivided heart

         What a massive idol has been destroyed in the presence of the Lord that was in my heart; I was completely blind to its presence and reign in my life. I never dreamed that "passion for God" could actually become a lethal idol in one's heart when it subltely begins to take the glory and become the identity of the child of God. Only when I was thrust into an extended season wherein I was forced to learn discipline and structure, and everything that I most despised, was I able to notice the feirce stronghold that zeal and passion and radical activity had in my heart. The more I gave into discipline, the fiercer the battle became, and who would win? Zeal was crying out to tear free of the bonds of discipline, but discipline patiently marched forward like the ticking of clock, moving my soul a day at a time towards true wholeness and maturity(much more of which is sure to come). I honestly thought that I was compromising who I was and living against the will of God to "give in" and focus on normal everyday necessities that are all passing away. 

        This is not to say that passion and zeal and radical living is wrong, I'm merely stating that it becomes disfunctional when it becomes a person's identity - when a person finds their value before God in the spiritual activities that they are involved in. Even Jesus Himself returned the desciples excitement at spiritual power and success with the following: "Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven" (Luke 10:20 ESV). In fact, all the gain that we have in any area is counted as dung compared to the surpassing worth of knowing and being found in Christ. 

        I believe that one of the major roles of the Holy Spirit is to unite our hearts, as the the psalmist writes so beautifully in Psalm 86, "Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name" (Psalm 86:11 ESV). He wants each and every person's heart to be united, meaning not split into any extreme of over zealousness or extreme conservative discipline. Rather, He would that our hearts were united within us to fear God. As Solomon, who asked God for Wisdom above all else, stated, "In my vain life I have seen everything. There is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his evildoing. Be not overly righteous, and do not make yourself too wise. Why should you destroy yourself? Be not overly wicked, neither be a fool. Why should you die before your time? It is good that you should take hold of this, and from that withhold not your hand, for the one who fears God shall come out from both of them. (Ecclesiastes 7:15-18 ESV). God is the source of our value as human beings; nothing that we do, whether spiritual or unspiritual can add or take away from our value before God. He valued us so highly that He sent His only Son to die in our place - now that's serious value! But then, it seems, that we, or at least I, spend much of time trying to figure out how to be this super hero valued person; I try to live up to the value God places on me, but that's missing the point. His value for us is meant to set us free to be able to living incredibly disciplined, incredibly passionate lives with His Kingdom bursting forth from the fibers of our being as we lean on Him. But God is faithful, if a person is beginning to find their value in their passion and zeal, He will surely tell them to go back to school or get a corporate job somewhere; but on the other hand, if someone is very disciplined and successful in the world and life, but lacking in true passion for the Lord, He'll no doubt tell them to sell all they own, give it to the poor, and live by faith as an intercessory missionary at IHOP. He does this to break us of our idols until only He remains in our hearts. Then we are free. Then we are walking in who we were created to be. Then we are living as Sons. Then we are becoming the Bride prepared for His return. 

        So I encourage you, kick agains the prics, meaning, don't fight against the season that God has placed you in to stretch you and draw you closer to Him. If it wasn't difficult, you probably wouldn't be gaining much from it; you would come out of the season the same as when you went in, and that would be a shame to go through all that and not gain the prize at the end of the race. So hold fast, keep the faith, be patient in tribulation, for surely He is coming soon. Amen, come Lord Jesus. 

 

Comments?

 

David Lewin